Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan

Music is evil.

Ever since Lenneth pimped me the opening song from the original game…. I’ve been looping it since then. And it’s making the series looks so much more appealing than it used to.

I’m slowwww I know U_U. All the girls would probably have been so over this already but whatever. Still gonna go ahead and do a focus entry on it because….eye candy iz love :D

Hanabira no Toki. The song that started this.

Without further ado, I present to you a shitload of awesome Hakuouki Cosplays!!!! WooTS! They are haphazardly arranged because yours truly don’t know enough about the series (nope, have not played the game nor watched its anime yet) to do any sort of categorizing.

…. Or perhaps I’m just too lazy to.

 

Hakuouki - 03 by *KanasaiiiThis is definitely a picture that screams “Baka Sannin(the 2 idiots)” to anyone who sees it xD. Gotta love Kanasaiii’s expression!

 

Hakuouki 2 by ~ycysusanThe intense contrast and saturation of the background really makes this entire photo look drawn!  Lovely sakura (or are they some other species of the plant?) backdrop seriously amplified the whole ‘Shoujo’ and ‘otome’ vibes xD

 

Comic Fiesta 2009 - 32 by ~shiroangAwesome Cosplay and Costume by Ayase! I love how rich and lush the material look!

Chizuru Yukimura 2 by ~pinkberry-parfaitI like Chizuru’s normal wear. Looks very cute and feminine and young at the same time. Pinkberry-parfait looks really cute too T_T

 

*_*

Time for the boys~~

 

 

Hakuoki - Saitou Hajime by ~gk-reikoEver kawaii Reiko as bishie Saitou Hajime. The snow background just adds this indescribable touch of romance and coldness =D

 

Hakuoki - Saitou Hajime 2 by ~gk-reiko

Shinsengumi First Unit Captain by *LennethXVII

Awesome backdrop. Looking at the snow…. can’t help but feel like its too freakin cold a time to be wearing sockless footwear yeah >.<? Anyway, kudos to lenneth and her team (Reiko,Decadence, Cvy, Kanasaiii) for doing all the costumes from scratch themselves =)

Daily patrol.. by *LennethXVIIReally love how both of them looked so natural and yet so in character! (Okay, Okita looks a bit kiddish for some reason xD). They really looked like they walked out of the film or something.

Hakuouki: Bloody Okita by ~SoySauceCosplayBlood is difficult to manage. Any cosplayer that manages to do it and smear it on their costume earns my 120% respect. Lovely expression and great capture by the photographer >.<!

Hakuouki: 3 times the power by ~SoySauceCosplayLOL! Cute is the only word I can use. I wonder are those carpark pillars they are sitting on.

 

Hijikata Toshizo by *songster69I think songster really captured a very good angle and gusto feeling here. Great portrayal by Kanasaiii.

 

Harada Sanosuke by *songster69And decadence as Harada. Love the killer expression and pose *_*

 

Hakuouki :01: by *koshinaka 

Hakuouki::01 by *CvyAccording to Cvy, this photo depicts a scene of Heisuke (Cvy) carrying a drunken Harada(Decadence)  back. Fan service much yeah???? LOL

Really loving the authentic ‘olden days’ Japanese street backdrop.

Hakuouki ::02 by *Cvy

Punk rock Heisuke Cvy !  Great work on the dye job and costume even though I feel cold just looking at her @_@ ;;; 

 

A little shy and sad of eye by * RyokoKiyo

 

Hakuouki - Okita Souji - 05 by ~shiroang

Hakuouki - Okita Souji - 02 by ~shiroangReally loving the light and warm colour tones here. Brings a lot of realism and life to the costume and character. Awesome cosplay and costume by DDtenka.

 

Hakuouki: Done yet by ~xmonk3yxBlood and snow is such a contrasting yet perfect combination. Coupled with the framing, pose and fiery expression of the cosplayer, this is definitely a piece of work worthy of a double look =)

 

Hakuouki: Okita being Okita by ~SoySauceCosplayXDDD Baka Sannin! Kawaii na~~

hakuouki:hijikata okita by *fullmetalflower

Hakuouki: Shinsengumi Kitan by *blurmageAnd FINALLY a couple shot bye Kyubei and Mitsuki! Definitely loving how the photographer framed the sakuras and them. Must be difficult to do a hugging pose that looks good on photos :D

********************************************************************

Finally, that’s the last! There’s still a lot of awesome Hakuouki Cosplay to be featured but I’m timing out now U_U. I’m sorry for featuring so much Singapore cosplayers and photographers. It was seriously not a deliberate action on my part.

Now I’m wondering whether should I start following the Anime…. any Hakuouki Fans (or haters) care to  gimme some insights? I don’t think the anime has ended its running right?

Kaichou Wa Meido’s pretty cool btw, thanks for the recommendation and comment on the previous entry. It’s a little predictable and overly ‘Shoujo’ but its good entertainment =) Skip Beat still pwns though =X

Had originally intended to only spend 30 minute on this but as life would have it, gathering everything took me near 2 hours X_X. Anyway, Live Writer’s being a bitch tonight and have crashed 3 times already so I’m ending my entry here.

Hope you guys liked the eye candy pimps! Comment if you like this and go visit the originator of the works (cosplayers or Photographers) by clicking on the orange links ^_^

MY WORLD (Cosplay on TV!)

Heyo peeps! I'm sure most Singaporean cosplayers would have already heard. Two of our local beauties acted in a local short drama about Youth and Cosplay. 

 

Sakurazaki as Sheryl Nome

Vic as Ranka Lee

Okay that pic was ugly. Post a nicer one from her DA.

 

I don’t usually watch TV so I only managed to catch the last 15minutes of it. Much thanks to Shadow Phantom (He complained “shadow” sounds very awful-_- ;; )  Neo for asking me to check TV out that day xD

 

I like the “blogging” style of the entire film and definitely loved how truth-to-facts and positive the entire drama portrayed Cosplay. Yes people, Cosplay’s not just about vanity, attention attracting and show-offy. It’s about the hard work, the concentration, the perseverance, the love, the craft and the admiration for the character.

I loved how they showed the process of cloth buying, drafting, sewing and STARVING for cosplay. HAhaha! Sounds like a very familiar rubric huh XD?

Much apologies for the insanely bad quality. Tv shows was never meant to be recorded like this and my old Tv is old. So yeah…. nobody at home really cares about the TV nowadays xD.

*thumbs up for both ladies* Great work girls ^_^!!!

 

EDIT:  OMG!!! Someone actually posted on youtube already!!! Loveeeeeeeeee technology! Watch here for the full episode! Fail kaika is fail!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

AFA Day 2: The Anime Quiz

Omg I'm so sorry this entry took so long !! Life , work and video editing really sucked up my already very limited time !

Anyway, so for the 2nd day 2 of the event I was finally free to roam as I wished! Î also finally cosplayed as Mogami Kyoko from Skip Beat!

 Photo by Reiko

   It felt strangely refreshing to cosplay a fairly new and unknown character. i mean, Skip Beat! Hasn't quite caught on in Singapore yet so its still relatively unknown to people outside the community.

   Nonetheless, its still awesome to be doing a character I truly liked =D! And I feel truly delighted every time someone asks for a picture!! It felt kinda like cosplay was a first time to me again =) I'd even go to the extend of asking people who requested for photos with me,  whether they know what series I was cosing from XDDDD!!!!

   That said, I find it a little queer how Skip Beat! doesn't seem to see as much love in the asian continents as much as it does in the western. Is it because of its too plain costume ? *shrug*

 

 

 

 

 

 
Nagato Yuki with…. Vocaloids???

So let me begin my report *cough*

So yours truly was soooooo freakin tired from saturday's standing and late night costume rushing, I only woke up at 11plus. (Yeah, totally missed Kaname's presentation =X ) And set out to do my ' Anime Quiz' props till 2pm. Hailed a cab down town, cooped myself up in the ladies changing till 4pm.

Yes, 4pm, I have a history of doing that *resigned and melancholy sigh*

And OMG, I had thought Saturday was already super  crowded but Sunday was WAY WORSE!!!! Level 3 was totally swarmed! I think I've never seen that place so packed before O_O'''

Dan, Ying and Cvy cosplaying as Alice in Wonderland steampunk version.

The main highlight of the day for me was my anime quiz ! I had tediously put together a file of 10 anime questions for people to answer and juge how high they fare in their Otaku-ness. I managed to get 8 very gamely cosplayers to play with me, watch their complied videos below!

Oh, highly recommended for you to play the game along with us and test your own otaku level xD

Hahaha, I found it amusing how you can totally tell the generation the cosplayer was from just by his/her answer =X.

It was actually kinda awkward trying to start the game because I don't think anyone has done this in SG before and I had a lot of hesitations. Which was the biggest reason why I only did the prop on the day of the event itself. I went to bed telling myself I’m not gonna do this nonsense but…. as you can tell, I’m a VERY fickle minded person >. < U And the project proves to be a killer for the video editor (fyi me). My program hung so many tiems while doing this=_=U

Because the cosplayers were just TOO cute, I've decided to put up the raw videos of them here! 

With Xrys who was cosplaying Araragi Koyomi from Bakemonogatari. My first victim of the day! *evil laughs*. Many thanks to Sakana for helping me with the camera! Super grateful~ ;_; From the video you might see a lot of scenes with me going all hot and bothered and screaming at some unknown target off screen. Let me explain my behavior, I don’t want to get mistaken as a raving crazy b*tch lol.

Basically, if  you watched the complied clip, you’d have realise that there were actually a gang of 5 people facing us while we played the game. And they KEPT GIVING XRYS ANSWERSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The very very gamely Mintos and Envy cosplaying as Kagamine Rin & Len from the Vocaloid series. not sure which version they are doing though, there’s too many @_@;;

Anyway, they are the only pair that scored the highest without any external help xD I was really surprised at how easily they flew through the entire quiz xD!!!

The absolutely kawaii Shugo Chara group! I think I half forced them to join me hahaha poor things =X We had accidentally crossed path while i was on my way to meet another friend at level 4 when one of them called out to me and insisted on a photo with me (skip beat! fan yaysss \^o^ /!!)

They are really cute and very very gamely xDDDD

My last victim hohoho ~~ Jesuke cosplaying as the ever sexy Litchi (lychee anyone one =X?) from Blazblue!! Many many thanks to Reiko for volunteering to be my cameraman! She had so much to juggle (time schedule wise) but she still insisted on helping T_T Veryyy touched lah!

Jesuke is such a black horse in pulling jokes!  Seriously, for those of you who have met her before would know how quiet she usually is but she totally rocked this video clip with those boobie gestures and exaggerating statements xD !

I think I’ll put the photo entries on another page for another day. For now, enjoy !!!

Macross frontier: Ranka Lee!

And so yea, Yukie Dong’s amazing performance below made me started scouring for MF Ranka’s video. Gonna share some of my awesome finds with you guys xD
 
Here’s the absolutely adorable Aya from our very own Singapore! Another awesome work from Zeratul again =)Had been wanting to blog about this PV but never got the chance to xD. I love the soft lighting here.
Got a good kick imagining how they could have done the filming at that place without getting shooed off xD


The most professional PV yet? Love the setting though I find those dance scenes with another photographer’s hand inside kind of …….disturbing. idk.
Nevertheless, very cute smile and costume. Not loving the dance performances though ^^;


A pretty innovative idea; singing and recording live at a KTV Room. In case you don’t know, KTV Lounges are  very prevalent in Japan.
Nice voice and really cute face but not so impressive dance ^^;

Found a familiar face! Jill from Singapore, in case you don’ know , she was Singapore’s World Cosplay Summit 2009 representative!


An impromptu performance by Katrina from Philippines. She is just AWESOME here.
Not only was this performance a last minute arrangement, she was also brave enough to do that head bumping thingy onstage just to be in character. YES!! that head bumping thing was deliberate xD. I can never be soooo in character T_T
And yes, anyone who can sing and dance, in harmony and synchronized  gets my vote anytime. 





Oops! Realise I forgot to pimp this video here. Introduced by maria darling xD. Katrina looks absolutely alive here !

Yes, its the same person as above.



Wheee our very own Sakana doing the nyan nyan dance :D

Did I scared you with this :P?

Alright, to make up for the scare above, here’s something kira kira to heal your soul. 
Not exactly Cosplay PV but it has some very lovely Ranka pictures inside. I especially love the 3rd one at 0:03. Very creative CG .
Okay, that's all for now. Byebyee folks!!!!

MOMIJI~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RAWR.

We;re going to have a Momiji now! ^~^!!!! Robbie has decided to cosplay as Momiji. I think she will make an awesome Momiji too. She's so cute. :3 We watched Fruits Basket today and now she's hooked and loves the little bunny~ I even have the backpack so she could wear it if she wants. She'll be doing his little school 'girl' uniform. Hehe.

I helped her find a wig online and she's probably going to buy it tomorrow if her internet is working. :] I still wish we had a Hatori! Ah well though....sooo excited! Wig: http://cgi.ebay.com/Halloween-Yellow-Blonde-Red-Blue-Green-Pink-Black-Wig_W0QQitemZ150372615755QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_CSA_MWA_Wigs_Extensions?var=&hash=item68c61898b2#ht_2924wt_1165

Robbie. One of the awesome members of our cosplay group. ^~^

(This is when her hair was actually blonde though, she likes to change the colors...and look androgynous...because it's awesome D:)

Soooo excited.

Yay for Kay-chan getting her wig for Shigure too~ :3

AFA 2009: Photo Stream !

Don’t mind my lousy piccies =(

Paying to shoot Cosplays. Right or Wrong?

So there is some big hooha going around because of this . Just curious to know what is everyone's take on this ?

Personally, I'm not taking any sides. Though I do feel a little sorry to the 2 cosplayers involved for getting so much slat over this. But at the same time, I don't feel like I should offer any encouragement to them because , well, its a decision they made. They ought to have foreseen the consequences and be prepared to face it bravely.

Now to the big question, what do I feel about this? Honestly speaking , its definitely not something I admire. But at the same time, I can't find any reasons to disapprove it.

I think most cosplayer who are against it don't like it because of the negative image it is imposing on our beloved hobby. And many feel that it's wrong to make money out of this hobby because it taints the purity of one's passion for the hobby.

Well, this is not a new fight. Once again, there are those who fight to protect their vision of cosplay and others who act on their beliefs of cosplay (which happen to be different from the first bunch). In no way am I implying that they are wrong. I think it just means they have a very strong passion for cosplay and would like to preserve the hobby in its most primitive form.

Everyone has the rights to their opinion, right?.

I'll push the moral card to the end of this entry and focus on factual talk first. Here’s the usual disclaimer, I am in no way slamming any parties or any opinions but just sharing my views on some areas we might have overlooked. 

 

1.Urgh so commercialised!

Many think it is wrong for a cosplayer to charge photographers to take photographs of them. In another word, they think it's wrong to get paid for taking photos in cosplay costumes. If that's the case then I'm guilty as charged. For I too got paid to cosplay for the CosPa booth. And of course, the job includes letting people take pictures of me in the costume.

And I know I’m not alone. Many other cosplayers in the community have been offered various part time jobs related to Cosplays too.

   Like the example someone illustrated, if a make up artist who loves to make up charges others to do their make up for them. Is it wrong too?

   I seem to observed that 'Cosplay' is the only hobby that reacts so vehemently towards commercialization. It's almost like saying a boy who is obsessed with soccer should never aspire to become a full time soccer player. Because if a hobby becomes a job it taints your passion for it and gives the mass public a wrong image.

   Which randomly brings me to this point. Somehow those in this community tend to segregate those who are NOT. Kinda like harry potter and the muggles world, get what I mean? I don't know if its an intentional intent or a subconscious action. But we tend to not want to let people outside know more about us. . . me included. *shrug* Well, this is just my loose observation with no statistics backing so . . . . take it with a pinch of salt.

Anyway, back to the issue. Do I feel its ok?

Well, I don't think its a ”Hey cool, let's do it okay?” sort of okay but rather a “Hey, we can't stop the big flow okay?“ sort of okay.

 

And why do I say so?

Because for ANY sort of activity to gain popularity and be longstanding in our current times. Commercial backing IS NECESSARY. Do you think our local circle would have expanded this much if we had stuck to just “ For fans by fans” ?

As much as I missed the old days where the community was so small everyone knew each other by name. We have to face the fact that no, staying fan-based wouldn't see the magnitude it is now. Which means no May'n , no ShokoTan, no Ichiro, no Yui Makino and definitely no Kaname.

Did a lousy job manipulating this blurry pic =\ Forgive me for looking so horrible, I had a very long day.

I can still remember those days where all the anime fans in Singapore felt so despondent and hopeless about ever meeting their favourite Seiyuu or becoming a Mangaka. Now the opportunities suddenly seemed endless and we are given a chance to participate.

Also, if a Photographer were to earn money by shooting photographs of Cosplayers, would we or other photographers penalize them as much? Apparently that is the case here, from what one of the Cosplayer commented, it seems like this photo shoot was organised by a photographer with an entrepreneur’s brainwork. And the cosplayers were engaged as a ‘model’ for a photo shoot with the ‘Cosplay’ theme.

Having individuals earn from this hobby is nothing new. Before we go all high and mighty about letting this hobby stay ‘un-commercialized’ look at those around us who are selling all sorts of Cosplay costumes, apparels, merchandises, beauty products and services. Even you or I might have benefitted in a way or two by selling our old costumes or wigs.

   If we went back to how Cosplay was like in the old days. We wouldn’t have access to cheap china costumes, we wouldn’t have as much costume making tailors, we wouldn’t have access to cheap wigs that we can style and throw. Not to mention no access to cheap and gorgeous Geo contact lenses everyone loves.

   Such incidents are by-products of this evolution, just some individuals banking in on the novelty. If we want the rainbows, we have to bear with the rain. It’s a changing of times and if you can keep up, you can get a share of the pie. Get what I mean? 

So let us ask ourselves again, Is commercialization really bad?

 

 2.Who are they to charge?

Then, there are those who knit their brows not over the '’shooting fee’ but over the fact that the quality of the cosplayers don’t measure up to their standards and are not qualified to expect payment.

Now, this is one debating point I find most interesting and crudely humane xD  One of the most honest opinion imho. I can’t be bothered to comment more on this point so I’ll leave the judging to you guys but my stand is simple.

I am but a nobody, I don’t like being judged (even though there’s no escaping it) so I don’t judge others either.

 

3.It’s unfair to the Photographers!

Is it really?

 

Well I guess it would be, if the Photo shoot was held at a Cosplay Event like Cosfest, Eoy or AFA. But it seems like it will be a normal private Photoshoot held at some secluded place. Meaning to say, the photographers will get the 2 cosplayers all to themselves.

So, instead of looking upon this as payment for Cosplaying. Why don’t we look upon it as a payment for the 2 cosplayer’s time and effort?

Back to the unfair point. Well, if a photographer has tonnes of connections with Cosplayers and get invited to a Cosplay Photoshoot every other week, then of course he or she won’t  want to fork out money for this. But we’re now talking about a bunch of photographers who probably has only shot still life, models and cosplayers at events and are looking forward to something different. In another words, they are paying for the novelty experience and dedicated time of the cosplayers.

Paying isn’t totally bad either. Because now the photographers own every rights to the picture =) So no complains from random cosplayer on the alley about rude photographers posting un-glam pictures of them online and the Photographers can use the photos on their portfolio as they wish xD

 

4.It brings a negative image to cosplay

Yeah it probably does. But only to the Cosplay Community members. Those outside don’t give a damn and have no basis for judgment.

Ugly eating habits = bad image for cosplay

    Why do I say “no basis for judgment” ? Because those who have no prior experience or knowledge of the hobby won’t be able to judge or critic it, get what I mean? To them, it just meant, if you want dedicated photoshoot/time with those people in fancy costumes(Cosplayers), you need to pay. They are spoon fed this idea and won’t make as much noise as we presumed they would.

    The only ones complaining are those within this community because we know more about the hobby. And I can’t blame them either as my butt is also on the fence for this point. We’ve all become so attached to this highly ‘specialised’ hobby and its hard not to let our feelings interfere.

Smoking and snot digging = bad image for cosplay

 

 

 

 

 

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I can’t believe I wasted so much time on this entry! Totally got carried away *palms forehead*. I’m getting tired of this entry so I’m going to go ahead and conclude myself.

I think it’s pretty unfortunate for the cosplayers involved but no tissue paper from me because well, like what I’ve mentioned above. Its a decision they made themselves so they have to face the consequences themselves too.

Even though getting paid to Cosplay is not a capitol crime but the format of it wasn’t tactful enough and angered many.

One thing though, thumbs up from me to the Cosplayers involved for continuing with the project despite all this shit. They might have moved a morally arguable step but at least they kept their promise to the photographer. It’s so much easier to back down and retract their words but they didn’t =)

COUNTING DOWN TO AFA 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

 

I managed to sneaked into the event hall xD 

Will be doing asuka from evangelion tmr at the Cospa booth. Hope i don't screw up >.<!

See you guys tmr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YAMAZAKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII !!!!!!

Gintama Cosers seem to get the most cracks ! I love how short & sweet this video is xD

As what Reiko said, ”Gintama is the only series where you can make the ugliest expression and get away with it”.

Maybe I should pick up Gintama.

No comments except, Haruhi Suzumiya ish god.

Nuff said. XD

AFA Cosplayer Pre-Registration

And we all thought there won’t be any such deal this year! Honestly, I didn’t bother msyelf too much with all these paper works last year so everything AFA is pretty novel to me.

 I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of the AFA committee to actually generously give out  complimentary entrance passes to cosplayers. They probably understood the hard work and pain (see money fly heart very pain) of a cosplayer so they’re giving us cheappo bast**ds dedicated cosplayers a break by cutting our wallet some slack.

Or maybe they just work like the clubs and organize Ladies night for…obvious Cat-and-Mouse reasons. Oh wells, who cares as long as you get to be on the benefiting side :DDDDD?!!!

Below are some excerpt of the requirements.

How to redeem your complimentary ticket at AFA09 as a cosplayer:
1) All cosplayers must register online at AFA09 site to redeem the complimentary ticket.
2) Bring along a printout of your registration form to AFA09 on either/both days.
3) Cosplayers can come on either/both days to redeem your ticket.
    There will be a cosplayer ticketing booth for cosplayers to queue to redeem their ticket for the day.
4) All cosplayers must be in full costume in order to redeem their complimentary ticket
5) Please show your I.C and registration form for verification. Each cosplayer is entitled to ONE ticket per day.
6) There will be a helper/cosplay moderator who will help verify the process.
7) Collection of complimentary tickets will start from 10am, and end at 4pm on both days
8) Cosplayers who want to collect their 2nd day ticket might need to bring another set of print outs of 2nd day costume.

We are happy to giveaway the complimentary ticket(s) if you cosplay as:
Any anime/manga/game adaptation character from Japanese/Western origin.

and Opps... please do not come with...
1) Clothes that resemble everyday clothing
2) ‘Cardboard box’ characters
3) Jackets with anime prints/logos
4) Visual Kei/Gothic Lolita
5) Original Characters
* Other cosplays will be subjected to the AFA09 Cosplay Committee’s approval. Organizer's decisions are final.
No appeals or correspondence will be entertained.

Check out the full details and register here !!!!!!

 

P/s: Above photo is taken by yours truly of Kazeki and her friend. Anyone care to enlighten me their series/character?

Mayo and MORE Mayo!

Cosplayers are crazy! Especially crazy cosplayers that cosplay crazy series like GinTama xD! Don't believe me? Check out this video of Kanasaiii as Hijikata from GinTama. She's literally spreading mayonnaise like it was some clay art =_=|||

And the poor girl had an upset stomach the next day though. *mega sweatdrop* Cosplay is dangerous business * nods head sagely*

STGCC Day 2: everyone dances NOBODY!

Jecht from Final Fantasy X came alive OMG!!!! Taken at the Singapore Toys Games & Comics Convention today!

Drefan was such a great sport! And yes, the muscles are REAL. Honestly, he is another one of those really inspiring cosplayers that totally blows you away with his dedications to bringing the character alive! He even made his weapon flammable, just like jecht!

Go stalk him on DA already XD!!!

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I've got a TONNE of these super epic videos to categorize, edit and upload... bacon &cheese please give me strength >m< !